Fathwa, - Why Hijab?

Question:
Why Hijab?
Answer:

The Qur�anic verse, �Say to believing women, that they cast down their
eyes and guard their private parts, and reveal not their adornment
save such as is outward; and let them drape their headcoverings over
their bosoms, and not reveal their adornment . . .� (Qur�an 24:31) is
a specific requirement for Muslim women to cover their hair.
The word �headcoverings� (Ar. singular khimar, plural khumur), more
familiar in our times as the hijab, is a word of well-known
signification among scholars of Arabic, at their forefront the authors
of the classical lexical reference dictionaries like Zabidi�s
encyclopedic Taj al-�arus or Mutarrizi�s al-Mughrib, both of which
define khimar as �a woman�s headcovering�; or Fayumi�s al-Misbah or
Fayruzabadi�s al-Qamus, which both define it as �a cloth with which a
woman covers her head.� The Taj al-�arus also notes that a man's
turban is sometimes referred to as a khimar �because a man covers his
head with it in like manner as a woman covers her head with her khimar
when he disposes it in the Arab manner, turning part of it under the
jaws nearly in the same manner in which a woman disposes her khimar.�
These authorities are cited in the eight-volume Arabic-English Lexicon
of Edward William Lane, who describes the khimar as �a woman�s muffler
or veil with which she covers her head and the lower part of her
face.�
There is no other lexical sense in which the word khimar may be
construed. The wording of the command, however, �and let them drape
their headcoverings over their bosoms,� sometimes confuses
nonspecialists in the sciences of the Qur�an, and in truth,
interpreting the Qur�an does sometimes require in-depth knowledge of
the historical circumstances in which the various verses were
revealed. In this instance, the elliptical form of the divine command
is because women at the time of the revelation wore their headcovers
tied back behind their necks, as some village women still do in Muslim
countries, leaving the front of the neck bare, as well as the opening
(Ar. singular jayb, plural juyub, translated as �bosoms� in the above
verse) at the top of the dress. The Islamic revelation confirmed the
practice of covering the head, understood from the use of the word
khimar in the verse, but also explained that the custom of the time
was not sufficient and that women were henceforth to tie the headcover
in front and let it drape down to conceal the throat and the dress�s
opening at the top.
This is why Muslim women cover their heads: because the Qur�an
unambiguously orders them to, and there is no qualifying text or
hadith or even other lexical possibility to show that the Qur�anic
order might mean anything besides obligation. Rather, the hadiths all
bear this meaning out, Muslim scholars are in unanimous agreement
about it and have been from the time of the Prophet (Allah bless him
and give him peace) down to our own day, and it is even known by all
non-Muslim peoples about them.
There was thus nothing new or surprising in the Islamic legal opinion
promulgated in December 2003 by the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Sheikh �Ali
Jumu�a of the Egyptian Fatwa Authority (Dar al-Ifta� al-Misriyya) that
�the hijab is an obligation on all Muslim female adults, as firmly
established in the Holy Qur�an and the Prophet Muhammad�s hadiths, as
well as unanimously agreed upon by Muslim scholars.� He pointed out
that unlike the cross sometimes worn by Christians, or the skullcap
worn by Jews, the hijab is not a �symbol� of Islam but rather that
�Islam orders female adults to wear hijab as obligatory religious
clothing.� It is part of every Muslim woman�s religious practice.
Some ink and words have been spent by some contemporary ethnic Muslim
women writers (and an occasional convert) trying to do away with the
covering of hair mandated by the Qur�an and the unanimous consensus of
Muslims. They say�accurately enough, for a Muslim does not leave Islam
merely by committing a sin�that one can take off the hijab and still
remain a Muslim. But such a person remains a bad Muslim, who deems
aping non-Muslims better than practicing Islam. For what? The Supreme
Being knows our benefit better than we do; and if one believes in
Allah, Master of every atom in the universe, it is only plain sense to
follow Him. When all else fails, read the directions. Those who refuse
to wear the hijab are acting out of ignorance or bad faith, and when
one meets them, one seldom finds they manage to practice the other
aspects of their religion. In the end, it is a matter of hearts. The
heart that is alive has a sense of eternity, and knows that the
infinite is greater than the finite. The heart that is dead follows
the trends of the trend makers because it has turned its back on the
Divine and forgotten endless time.